158 FERRET FACTS AND FANCIES. 



high and packed this full of straw. Then I made 

 a hole near the bottom with my hand. 



To tell when to separate the female, she be- 

 gins to shed about two weeks before she has her 

 young. 



One morning about two weeks after I put her 

 in this box, or to be more exact on May 27th, I 

 found four young ones in the nest. They were 

 funny looking things, with their eyes shut and 

 no hair to speak of; I might say they resembled 

 rats, except in size, for they are longer and more 

 slim than rats. These ferrets are sixteen days 

 old now ( June 13th ) and they are dandies. They 

 haven't got their eyes open yet — they don't open 

 until they are six weeks old. The mother is as 

 gentle as she was before she had her young." 



Methods explained in handling the large 

 ranch, colony or ferret establishment at breeding 

 time can be followed by the small raiser to a 

 great extent. (See chapter on Breeding). Some 

 of the things for those who have few as well as 

 those raising many to remember are: After 

 mating the female goes 42 days before young are 

 born; thirty days or thereabout after mating 

 make the female a nest in a box filled with wheat 

 straw; separate the breeding females, providing 

 a box and pen or hutch for each. 



